Name Band - 1959 - Bob Florence & His Orchestra

A one-finger mysterioso introduction; a guitar that thrums an almost inaudible heartbeat; beautiful structures that have as much room for carefree ensemble lollops as for solos of heart-rending intensity: sounds like I’m describing the music of Count Basie.

And it seems to me that Florence’s arrangements have some of the laid-back glitziness of the later Basie band orchestrations, particularly the ones by Neal Hefti for E=MC²/The Atomic Basie (1957).

The sleevenotes boast of the LP being completely manually compressed by skilful engineers. It just sounds classy to me, but if that over-compressed sound was interfering with your listening pleasure, who am I to argue?

From that album, one slow burner and one arrangement that sizzles with joy.

Baby Come Here

Little Girl

Personnel: Bob Florence (p), Johnny Audino (tp), Tony Terran (tp), Irv Bush (tp), Juiles Chaikin (tp), Bob Edmundson (tb), Bobby Pring (tb), Don Nelligan (tb), Herbie Harper (tb), Herb Geller (as), Bernie Fleischer (as), Bob Hardaway (ts).

Ambrose - A Tribute to Cole Porter

Sam Browne, Anne Shelton and Evelyn Dall sing to these stylish orchestrations from the Porter songbook.

Anne Shelton has been featured at MMM before here and here. I didn't realise I had such a thing for her.

After You, Who?

Easy to Love

I Get A Kick Out of You

I've Got You On My Mind

I've Got You Under My Skin

Just One of Those Things

My Heart Belongs to Daddy

You'd Be So Nice to Come Home to

You're the Top

Different Views of Music Makes Me

You can now view this blog in funky new ways. It kind of defeats the object in me designing the blog, but then I think it might appeal to some readers. If you like either of these, maybe bookmark that link.

Music Makes Me - Snapshot View

Music Makes Me - Timeslide View

More Ronald Frankau - The M&W; Show

Nicholas Frankau presents a programme about the remarkable double act his grandfather had with Liverpudlian Tommy Handley. I’ve just listened to it and really enjoyed it, especially the clips showing the pair’s incredible facility for fast patter. Listen to it here, NOW! (It expires in three days, so go now.)

If you liked our Ronald Frankau posts, you’ll love it.

Here are the links to those posts:

Frankau’s World War II propaganda verses (and a helping of smut)

Ronald Frankau film clips from the Pathe website

Monkhouse Meets Frankau: Freddie’s Got A Lot To Learn

Shedloads v. Shitloads

I always thought the ‘shedload’ was a strange unit of measurement. I can, however, imagine people using ‘shit’ to reckon amounts.

This quick Google Ngram search would suggest that this is because ‘shitloads’ came first.

Presumably, then, ‘shedloads’ is a euphemising version, or some kind of genteelism?

If anyone had any more information, please let me know.

Why Harrison Preferred Minors: Notes Towards An Analysis Of The Beatles’ Use Of Descending Chord Progressions

Whenever someone proclaims in a review of a new single that it is ‘Beatlesque’, my ears prick up. Of course, you’re going to give any song with this kind of press a hard time, but what really bugs me is when lazy reviewers describe as ‘Beatlesque’ any song that features a descending chord progression.

I wondered if there was any truth in the idea. I looked around on a few sites and forums and found nothing on this topic – in fact, I was told it was unquantifiable. I liked the idea of the challenge. So here is my attempt to quantify the Beatles’ use of such figures.